Building a CD player pc

[QuirkHammett]

Hi All the amazing people of this peaceful, entertainment loving people of planet HiFi! I'm from New Delhi, been browsing this forum for a few months, now decided to post for the first time

first up I'm calling it a CD player PC, rather than a media/HT pc, because that's what I need it to be -- i.e. an alternative to the component CD players in the market (Marantz/Onkyo/CambridgeAudio etc).

What I'm thinking is something like this:
-- An atom based desktop box (implies low power consumption, and small form factor)
-- An Asus Xonar Essence STX
-- 2.0/2.1 speakers (to be decided)
-- my Audio Technica ATHM40s cans
-- a very clean power supply for the box
-- Windows XP/7
-- Optical drive
-- Capability needed: CDDA/DVD-A playback
-- will install the OS on a usb stick, so don't need a harddrive (btw, does this even work with Windows?)

BUT then I run into a major problem.
I envision this rig to have ONLY one interfacing device -- a small (7-inch maybe, or less) touch screen. So that once i insert a CD, I can invoke a media player SW, and do the regular play/pause/skip/programming on the CD in the drive.

I dont' want to use a keyboard/mouse etc, because this is basically a CD player for me, so it better not have such computer-like interfaces.


Can you guys guide me into the 'right' interface device?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

When you want something for such a specific task, can you tell why you have chosen the PC option rather than the dedicated hifi unit?

One of my basic buying principles is to pay for features that I want, and to try not to pay for features that I do not want. An example of this would be that, given a budget, I looked for a sound card that had the fewest, rather than the most, features. I figured that I wanted stereo sound, so paying for midi, multi channel, etc, etc, was diluting the expenditure on the the two channels I would use.

Here, my first thought is that you are paying for a PC, with all of its personal computer capability, to specifically play CDs.

On the other hand, I don't argue that a PC, with a good sound card, can be a pretty excellent CD player --- that is certainly my experience.

Sorry... this is off-topic to your specific request. Do feel free to ignore! Just that, after reading your post, I was interested in the background...

 

[QuirkHammett]

Hi Thad E Ginathom,

your reply is most welcome

infact i should have expected this question.

My intent is to satisfy a DIY urge. The background is rooted in an old Creative Infra CDROM drive that i have from 11 years back. out of ANY playing medium i've plugged my headphones/speakers in, the analog stereo out of that CD Drive is just PURE ear bliss. (btw as might be obvious from that sentence, that I've never really tasted the true HiFi equipment first hand).

So naturally I decided that why not undertake a DIY project.
Plus the Intel Atom based config I'm considering is not really costly. I built an Atom pc for 6k inclusive of a miniature cabinet/supply/motherboard/processor/RAM.

so if i add a usb stick + a Xonar on top, that adds 10k to the total. which is still less than a low end audiophile CDP.

 

[QuirkHammett]

Hi Thad E Ginathom

your thoughts are expected

I thought of this as a DIY idea. The background is rooted in when I decided to use an old Creative Infra CDRom drive for playing CDs. And the output from that was pure bliss through my AudioTechnica cans.
(ok from the last statement, you can guess that I have no first hand experience with real hifi equipment )

 

[hemantwaghe]

PC Remote
eBay India: PC Remote Controller with USB Receiver(Silver) (item 320603973905 end time 22-Oct-2010 23:07:35 IST)

I have one but frankly not using it .. in fact have one extra..

I think spirovious is using it so Doc Spiro please can you help?

 

[abhi]

the price that you will incur in procuring good components for your rig would exceed the cost of a good entry level cd player. Also i believe windows will not work from USB drives, you can try linux

 

[hemantwaghe]

-- An atom based desktop box (implies low power consumption, and small form factor)
-- An Asus Xonar Essence STX

An Asus Xonar Essence STX is pcmcia card but are there any atom motherboards with expansion slots?
Will the card run on atom?
Are low profile cases accomdate Asus Xonar?
Why not hard drive? Why not storing all music on HDD in losslss formats

Also my queries

Is there perticular optical drive with better Audiophile qualitiesor all drives are equal?

What amplification you are planning to use?

 

[spirovious]

Atom new dual core processor MB has either of expansion slot(PCI or PCI-E).
So xonar can run on it with higher atom processor.

Intel Desktop Board D525MW - Overview
Motherboard | silentpcreview.com

Now PC remote can be used as wireless mouse & partial keybrd option.
It can turn of PC & works with Win7.

http://www.hifivision.com/audio-video-accessories/7209-pc-remote-review.html
http://www.hifivision.com/audio-video-accessories/7209-pc-remote-review-2.html

 

[hemantwaghe]

Thanks spiro .,,any suggestion of case to accommodate soundcard and Optical drive? any optical drive suggestion?

 

[stereorules]

An example of this would be that, given a budget, I looked for a sound card that had the fewest, rather than the most, features. I figured that I wanted stereo sound, so paying for midi, multi channel, etc, etc, was diluting the expenditure on the the two channels I would use.

Which sound card did u get ? I know it is OT but couldn't resist.

 

[spirovious]

Something like this-
Amazon.com: MI-008 Tower Black P4 Chassis with 250W Itx Psu+sata Power Supply: Electronics

Both can fit in it.
For CD pupose,SONY CD-rom can be better.
Amazon.com: Sony CDU 5211 - Disk drive - CD-ROM - 52x - IDE - internal - 5.25" - white: Electronics

 

[grubyhalo]

Dell SX2210 Full HD 21.5 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor Details

 

[QuirkHammett]

It's quite heartening to see all the replies, in just a matter of 4-5 hours. cheers guys! :licklips:

the price that you will incur in procuring good components for your rig would exceed the cost of a good entry level cd player. Also i believe windows will not work from USB drives, you can try linux

Hi Abhi,

I agree with you on the price factor, infact I myself feel that it would go up around 25k in all (if I buy some sort of small touch screen monitor as well).

I did think about Linux, but I'm not very sure about driver support. I do know that there is SOME support for the Xonars in Linux, but whether that's enough to fully exploit such a card is a question.

Also, there's an audio/music specific OS distro based on Linux, called Dynebolic. It does not have any specific installation 'procedure', just copy it in a usb and boot. So that's another option I'll consider.

All the OS decisions depend on two things:
1) support for the Xonar
2) support for my interface of choice.

 

[QuirkHammett]

An Asus Xonar Essence STX is pcmcia card but are there any atom motherboards with expansion slots?
Will the card run on atom?
Are low profile cases accomdate Asus Xonar?
Why not hard drive? Why not storing all music on HDD in losslss formats

Also my queries

Is there perticular optical drive with better Audiophile qualitiesor all drives are equal?

What amplification you are planning to use?

Hi Hemant,

If I'm not mistaken, i think the STX is a regular PCI card. As far as I know, the Atom bundle from Intel does have at least one of those slots. But yup, you're right about the casing. Will keep that in mind as well.

As for Hard drives, there are a few reasons:
1) I have a lot of audio CDs in my collection, and I think it's a much more 'fuller' experience to hear music with the whole cycle of 'tray out - CD in - tray in - PLAY'
2) a Hard drive would cost me about 2.5 K, if i am to get enough storage to store all my music in lossless formats.
3) similar to point 1, but I believe that somehow, just somehow, to me it voids the whole point of procuring CDs. just my feeling, that!


As for the drives, I do plan to research on the best ones. I guess that's a minor part, once my interfacing problem is sorted i.e. Plus I believe, that the transport/error correction in CD transports has matured to such a level over the last 3 decades, that even the assembly line products from China would be good enough. That I say, because a CD drive's primary job is to transmit 1s as 1s, and 0s as 0s which all of them do darn well, to qualify as sellable.

The other aspect is the noise made by the drive's mechanical components. Now THAT is something I'm going to look at for sure. Along with the cabinet's supply as well.

As for Amplifier, I'll hold till some time next year (budget constraints!) and till then will enjoy music with my el Cheapo Altec Lansing 2.1s

 

[venkatcr]

If I'm not mistaken, i think the STX is a regular PCI card.

STX is PCI-Express, not PCI.

As for the drives, I do plan to research on the best ones. I guess that's a minor part, once my interfacing problem is sorted i.e. Plus I believe, that the transport/error correction in CD transports has matured to such a level over the last 3 decades, that even the assembly line products from China would be good enough. That I say, because a CD drive's primary job is to transmit 1s as 1s, and 0s as 0s which all of them do darn well, to qualify as sellable.

At the outset, CD drives are not available anymore. So you have to go in for a DVD drive or a Blu-Ray drive. Though both will play CDs, unless you do something smart with software, it will be like playing a CD on an entry level DVD Player. Of course, the Asus sound card will help, but you also need a software that can sample the track multiple times, get the best read and play that to you. One software you can look at is cPlay. TheVortex is an expert and you can PM him for details.

An easier method is to use EAC and store as much of the CD as WAV files as possible. EAC samples upto forty times, if needed, and the hard drive version will be 99.99% as good as the CD. Once ripped, you can keep playing the music as many times as you want.

Cheers

 

[hemantwaghe]

Experts please chip in
Especially I wast views of venkat sir,gobble and Suri sir

IMHO a pc built for playing redbook cd's with mass market DVD -rw rom will be as good as aove average dvd player ( maybe Pio 610) with very good sound card..

or

will it beats better cdp's hands down? (SayMarantz 6003?)

Is it worth going for PC?
what about jitter,clocking errors?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Hi Thad E Ginathom

your thoughts are expected

I thought of this as a DIY idea.

Driven by DIY --- fair enough

Which sound card did u get ? I know it is OT but couldn't resist.

RME Digi96/8 PAD. It does it in audio or in digital. It was already going out of production when I bought it, hence it was at a very good price, but the price i'm paying now is no support after XP. Ubuntu has drivers for it, though

 

[hemantwaghe]

Again why not ( all disk player with digital out)
1) Good DVD player + DAC?
2) Used CD Player + DAC?
3) Low end mass market CD + DAC ( Only issue to source such a cd.In mumbai TEAC was available)

Experts chip in ---IMHO it will sound better than PC based redbook cd player

 

[gobble]

IMHO a pc built for playing redbook cd's with mass market DVD -rw rom will be as good as aove average dvd player ( maybe Pio 610) with very good sound card..

or

will it beats better cdp's hands down? (SayMarantz 6003?)

Is it worth going for PC?
what about jitter,clocking errors?

You will get better SQ by ripping to HDD and playing from there. Cdrom drive should be used only for ripping. I wouldnt keep an CD drive in my HAPC, but use the one in my workstation/desktop.

 

[QuirkHammett]

Again why not ( all disk player with digital out)
1) Good DVD player + DAC?
2) Used CD Player + DAC?
3) Low end mass market CD + DAC ( Only issue to source such a cd.In mumbai TEAC was available)

Experts chip in ---IMHO it will sound better than PC based redbook cd player

Hi Hemant,

Seems like you and me are running in the same direction

Even I was thinking about point 3) above. i.e. using a mass market Sony/Philips mini HiFi system with digital output and then adding on a quality DAC later on. For example, I was looking at this for a Diwali purchase: MHC-GZR77D : Mini Hi-Fi System : Hi-Fi System : Sony India

The advantage I see is that I get decent speakers, a cassette player deck (I do have quite a good stock in my collection) and a decent after sales service.

What do you guys suggest?